


can you tell me a story?

by howisbucky



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape Bashing, harry was raised by sirius and remus, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27413344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howisbucky/pseuds/howisbucky
Summary: in which sirius and remus don’t let dumbledore send harry off to the dursley’s and raise him themselves.“until the end, right pads?”“until the very end, moons.”-aka snippets of how the harry potter series should have been.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 16
Kudos: 281





	can you tell me a story?

godric’s hollow was eerily silent. one would expect the street to be filled with laughter and voices, given the nature of the holiday. but the children had gone to bed and the parents had turned off their lights, no longer wishing to receive visitors. the house at the end of the col de sac seemed perfectly normal, but surprisingly empty. neighbors were use toguests going in and out frequently, but for the last month or so it had seemed as if no one was home. 

the man walked down the street for the first time in weeks, hand clenched around a wand in his coat pocket, eyes focused on the quiet house he was all too familiar with. the gate creaked as he pushed it open, and as soon as he stepped over the threshold, the house changed as if by magic. he let out a pained gasp as he took in the busted windows and door blown off its hinges. he wished he could stop but his feet moved him forward, inside where he would find his nightmare come true. 

his brother lay in the hallway, dead. 

the man finally let out a sob as he dropped to his knees and cradled james potter’s head in his hands, his chest heaving as he cried. two days ago, he had apparated inside to visit him, laughing over his son’s newfound love of lily’s cat, sharing a drink when the baby had been put to bed. now he would never hear him speak ever again. 

a different cry startled him, as this one was not his own. he pressed a quick kiss to james’ forehead and bolted to the nursery, where he immediately let out another sob at seeing his best friend’s body in front of her son’s crib. said son let out another wail and the man was forced to ignore lily potter, instead focusing on harry sitting in his crib. 

“shh, prongslet, padfoot’s here,” he picked up the child, shushing and bouncing him until his cries were no longer as angry. “i’m never leaving you ever.”

he suddenly heard a crack downstairs, and then a painful scream that he recognized. footsteps neared the nursery, and another man stopped as soon as his eyes found the pair. 

“harry,” he gasped out, rushing forward to pull both the man and child into his arm’s, crying into the former’s hair. “how is he alive?”

“i don’t know, rem,” the first man whispered, holding onto the child for dear life. “but look.”

both men pulled apart to examine the new scar on harry’s forehead. it was red and looked like it was probably the main reason harry was so angry. the taller man frowned, “is that from vo-“

“i think he’s gone,” interrupted the other man. “he killed james, then lily, but he couldn’t kill harry.”

“how?” he asked, brushing the scar with his thumb, much to harry’s displeasure. 

before he could receive another response, a third person appeared in the doorway. he was rather large and had to duck to enter the room. he eyed them tearfully, “oh my.”

“hagrid, did dumbledore send you?” asked one of the men, taking a step forward. 

“ya,” hagrid responded, glancing at lily’s body in sadness. “wants me to bring ‘arry to ‘im.”

“no,” the man holding said child said immediately, tightening his grip. “i’m his godfather, i’m responsible-“

“i’m sorry, sirius,” hagrid shook his head. “dum’ledore’s orders.”

“fuck dumbledore,” cursed sirius, taking a step back as if it would protect harry. “james and lily wanted harry with me and remus, not anyone else.”

hagrid was wide eyed at these words, and held his hands up in a peaceful gesture. “aye, but dum’ledore asked me to come get ‘im.”

sirius looked to the third man in the room pleadingly, and they seemed to have a silent communication with only their eyes before remus spoke. “then we’ll

come with you. we’re not leaving him.”

hagrid looked between them uncertainly for a few moments before he reluctantly nodded, not wanting to ever displease dumbledore but also not wanting to make the two men even angrier. sirius and remus followed him back outside, both closing their eyes as they stepped around their best friends’ bodies. once in front of the house, sirius led them to where he had landed his bike, not even bothering to conceal it with a charm. 

“you can take the bike, hagrid,” sirius nodded towards it, “remus and i will apparate.”

“let him take harry,” remus said, raising a hand to interrupt sirius before he could even argue. “you know he’s a baby, and he doesn’t take well to apparition. he got so sick that time pe-“

he cut himself off beforehe could speak the name but it was too late. for the first time both of the men were forced to think about their former friend who just handed voldemort the key to james and lily’s murders. sirius’s face showed his emotions as he grew angrier, and remus took a step forward to place a hand on his shoulder

“hey,” he whispered, rubbing soothing circles on the man’s arm. “i know. believe me, padfoot, i know. but we cannot think about him right now. harry is our priority.”

sirius closed his eyes and took a breath. he opened them. “i know. you’re right, moons.” he turned to hagrid, “hold him tightly. he might fall asleep, it’s been a long day.”

hagrid nodded and accepted the baby carefully. once they were both settled on the bike, the two other men disappeared with a crack

-

“then where are you planning on taking him, if you don’t trust us to look after him!? you can’t just override james and lily’s wishes! they’re dead!”

remus winced as sirius continued yelling at the old man in front of them. albus dumbledore was not impressed. 

“i assure you, he will be safe there,” dumbledore said calmly, “but with you, he will not. will you really risk him like that?”

sirius’ eyes flashed with anger, and remus could see how hard it was for him to contain it. “where do you plan on taking him?”

dumbledore hesitated, but as he was faced with steel looks from both men and minerva mcgonagall, he sighed. “i believe that lily’s dying act of placing herself in front of harry saved his life. thus, to continue this protection, he must be protected by her blood. there is only one-“

“are you fucking kidding me!?” remus interrupted, shocking his two former professors. “petunia and vernon? we met them once. vernon hurled slurs at james while petunia stared at lily while she cried and didn’t do a single thing! they hate magic and they hate brown people, they would be the worst thing for harry.”

sirius looked at him proudly, reaching in between them to grab his hand and then squeezing it tightly. they both faced dumbledore as a steel wall, and refused to be pushed aside. mcgonagall, from where she stood a few feet away holding harry, nodded and took a step forward to agree with them. 

dumbledore glanced between the three of them and cleared his throat. “and if he goes with you, what will he do on the full moon?”

sirius growled but remus squeezed his hand again to calm him. “we do have many friends in the wizarding world who would be glad to spend an evening with harry potter, and molly weasley adored him the first time she met him. and if she won’t-“

“i will,” interrupted minerva, glancing down at the sleeping boy in her arms. “albus, these two love harry more than anything in the world. how could you deprive him of that for a protection that may not work or be needed? place wards on the house, on the boy himself, and let him live a happy life.”

and with that, the two men had just become parents. 

-

they live in remus’ childhood home, in a small and quiet town where a tiny cottage sits in a tiny field. remus is very insecure about it, as he always has been regarding his childhood, but sirius beams at him and tells him it is simply brilliant. sirius goes about childproofing the home with spells, and remus follows behind him with muggle backups. they set up a playpin in the den and harry’s nursery in remus’ old bedroom. the two men sleep together in his parents’ room, and more often than not, one of them is woken up by crying not coming from the baby, but from themselves. the first week is hard, and the first month even harder, but as harry grows so do they. 

“c’mon, prongslet, time for bed.”

harry lets out an exaggerative groan and pins remus with a pleading look, but the man just raised an eyebrow and nods towards the stairs. the five year old rolls off the couch and stomps towards the steps where sirius stands, gesturing upwards. 

“please, paddy, can i stay up a little longer?” harry begs, tugging at his godfather’s shirt. “i’ll do more chores tomorrow!”

“hmm,” sirius pretends to think, “a tempting offer. maybe instead you could-“

harry lets out a squeal as remus scoops him up from behind and sirius swoops in to tickle his stomach. the child giggles while he tries to pry the hands away, letting out please between fits of laughter. 

“okay okay!” he concedes, when sirius stands up straight. “i’ll go to bed.”

but he lets remus carry him upstairs with sirius following, and snuggles into the blankets as sirius tucks them nice and close around him. before they can turn and leave, he grabs one of their hands. “can you tell me a story?”

sirius and remus exchange a glance, because when harry asks for a story there’s only two people he ever asks about. but they will never deprive him of this, and so they both settle in on either side of him, while harry grins. 

“what kind of story would you like tonight, cub?” remus asks him. 

harry doesn’t hesitate. “i want one about the mar-marders.”

he still can’t pronounce “marauders” correctly, and his attempts never fail to make sirius laugh. “alright, mar-marders it is. moony, your turn.”

remus seems to need only a second to think about which story he would like to tell. “hm, okay. harry, you remember we knew your father at school?”

“yeah!” harry says excitedly, “at hogwarts! and you were lions! and you and my dad shared a room and you guys were best friends!”

“that’s right, prongslet,” sirius grinned. 

remus smiled before continuing. “so once a month when i had to become moony, your dad and padfoot stayed in our room. but your dad couldn’t sit still while his friends are in need. and so pads came up with a brilliant idea. they decided they would become animals too, and run around with moony every month so that they would be safe and i would too.”

“it was the easiest decision i’ve ever made,” sirius added, glancing at remus with a loving smile. 

“and that’s how come we call you padfoot!” harry chimed in, having heard this story but never getting sick of it. “can you show me? please? please please please-“

“okay, okay,” sirius chuckled, ruffling the child’s hair. he stood up from the bed and immediately disappeared. the next second, padfoot jumped on the bed and began licking harry’s cheek. 

the child giggled as he wrapped his arms around the dog’s neck, turning his face as to avoid the slobber. “paddy!”

remus watched them with a fond smile, reaching out to run a hand through padfoot’s fur. the dog glanced at him, leaning forward to give his arm a lick as well, before continuing to play wit harry. 

remus loved them so much. 

-

“moony?”

remus closed his book and set it on the side table as harry stood in the doorway, a sad expression on his face. he frowned. “yes, harry?”

“um, i was wondering,” harry started, then paused. 

this worried remus, as the child was rarely this quiet and hesitant to speak his mind. he opened his arms. “c’mere, cub.”

harry darted onto the bed, wiggling around until he was wrapped in remus’ embrace. the man held him firmly in silence, not rushing him to speak. after a moment, harry turned on his side. 

“am i supposed to call you guys dad?”

remus’ breath caught in his throat. harry was eight years old now, and not once had he ever called either of them any version of dad. sure, they had variations of ‘padfoot’ and ‘moony,’ but they had never even thought of asked him to call them anything else. 

“oh cub,” remus said softly, brushing his hair to the side. “you don’t ever have to call us anything you don’t want to. sirius and i have never been upset that you haven’t called us ‘dad.’ we love you like you’re our son, and we know we have acted like parents, but we also want to keep the memory of your parents alive. so if you ever want to refer to us as your fathers, it is entirely up to you.”

harry was quiet for another moment, before letting out a small “okay.”

“are you wanting to call us ‘dad?’”

the child shrugged. “i mean, i feel like you guys are my dads. and ron calls his parents mom and dad, and i feel like you guys are my parents. so.. i dunno, i guess.”

“harry, love,” remus honestly wasn’t sure of how to proceed. “i don’t want you to feel pressured into doing something like that just because you think you should. i know we’re not a typical family when you look real close, but i love our family. i think that what really matters is that we love you, and you’ve got padfoot and moony to look after you. if you wanna call us your dads, i admit it might be weird at first but it’s up to you. if you want to call us uncles, go for it. if you wanna call padfoot a stink old dog-“

he cut off as harry laughed, and smiled at the sound. the child nodded, “okay, okay. i get it. thank you.”

“of course, cub,” remus kissed his forehead and squeezed him tighter. 

they were both quiet for a few moments, and then harry whispered, “i know i’m a big kid now, but... can i sleep in here tonight?”

remus felt tears spring to his eyes. he loved this kid. “of course you can, love.”

when sirius arrived home from work that night, he was definitely surprised at the two bodies in his bed. but he smiled so fondly, and his heart felt full as he peeled the covers back and crawled in to settle around them. he leaned forward to press kisses to harry’s head, then remus’. 

he loved his family. 

-

“but what if i’m not in gryffindor?”

remus spared a glance at sirius as he continued placing harry’s school things in his trunk. the act alone was extremely nostalgic, as many years ago he had helped his father pack his things in this very trunk. they had told harry they would buy him a new one, but the ‘JFP’ scribed in the front was too much for the child to pass up. 

sirius sighed from where he sat on harry’s bed, offering no help. “prongslet, i feel like i owe you an apology. i have so much house pride, and many personal reasons not to like people from other houses. but that doesn’t mean that those houses are bad. there are good and bad people in every house, even gryffindor. the hat will place you in the house you truly belong in, and they will become your family. wherever you end up, we will be so proud of you.”

harry nodded, but didn’t look completely assured. “even if... i’m in slytherin?”

remus chuckled as sirius pulled harry into a hug. “yes, prongslet, even if you’re in slytherin. you know my little brother was in slytherin, don’t you?”

“he was?” harry asked in shock. sirius didn’t talk about any of his family ver much. 

the man nodded. “he was. and i loved my brother so much. he was a good man.”

“oh,” the child whispered. “okay. i still wanna be in gryffindor, though.”

two morning from then, sirius grinned as he opened their mail. 

_ PADFOOT AND MOONY, _

_ I’M IN GRYFFINDOR! AND RON IS TOO AND WE’RE IN A DORM AND OUR COMMON ROOM IS RED! I HAVE TO GO TO CLASS NOW BECAUSE THIS GIRL NAMED HERMIONE IS BEING ANNOYING BUT I’M SO HAPPY BECAUSE I’M IN GRYFFINDOR!! _

_ LOVE YOU _

_ HARRY _

_ - _

_ PADFOOT AND MOONY, _

_ I MADE THE QUIDDITCH TEAM! I’M A SEEKER! OKAY SO I ALMOST GOT IN TROUBLE BUT INSTEAD MINNIE LET ME ON THE TEAM! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I TOLD YOU I WOULD GET ON THE TEAM! OKAY GOTTA GO PRACTICE _

_ LOVE YOU _

_ HARRY _

-

the great hall is silent as a red letter lands on the table, all eyes turning to the front of the room. harry leans to ron, and asks “what is that, in front of snape?”

“blimey,” ron says, wide eyed. “that’s a howler.”

snape seems to be struggling not to show too much emotion, and the howler unfolds even without him touching it or spelling it open. all the student hold their breath, straining to hear as if they had never heard one before. 

the words are very clear and echo across the hall. 

_ “SEVERUS SNAPE, IF I HEAR FROM ANYONE EVER AGAIN THAT YOU ARE BULLYING MY GODSON, I WILL PERSONALLY MARCH DOWN TO HOGWARTS AND HEX YOU INTO NEXT YEAR! HOW DARE YOU? HE IS A CHILD, INNOCENT OF WHATEVER GRUDGE YOU HOLD AGAINST HIS FATHER. HE IS HER SON, SNAPE. HER SON.” _

the man’s face has gone pale, and the students break into hushed giggles at the sight. 

hermione turns to harry in shock. “who was that?”

harry grins widely. “that was moony.”

-

“oh my god, harry!”

remus and sirius run into the hospital wing as soon as they see the door. harry waves sheepishly at them as he spots them, and they let out simultaneous sighs of relief. they approach his bed more calmly, and sirius leans down to kiss his forehead. harry doesn’t even complain this time. 

“how the bloody hell was voldemort on the back of a teacher’s damn head all year and nobody noticed?” remus mumbles under his breath, giving the child a once over before assessing that he’s fine. “how you feeling, cub?”

“i’m okay, guys, seriously,” harry assures them, but allows them to fret over him anyway. 

sirius fixes him with a stern look, which is almost comical to remus. “harry, you need to keep yourself out of trouble. i don’t want to hear you’ve ended up here again, got it?”

of course, they end up in the same room a year later. 

-

_ padfoot and moony, _

_ apparently i can speak to snakes? i don’t know how but everyone is scared of me now and thinks i tried to hurt someone but i didn’t! i’m scared but you don’t have to worry because hogwarts is the safest place on earth.  _

_ love you _

_ harry _

-

“wait, you’re gonna be my professor?”

remus smiles at him, “yes, i am.”

the boy spins around to sirius. “and you’re gonna be my professor too?”

“yes, i am,” sirius smirks. 

harry glances between them for a few moments before breaking into a wide grin. “brilliant!”

-

“morning, paddy.”

“oi!” sirius points at harry as he takes his seat, the boy stifling a laugh. “that’s professor paddy to you!”

-

“hello, professor.”

“hermione,” remus sighs, watching as her and ron follow harry through the house. “we’re not your professors anymore. you can call us remus and sirius again.”

-

sirius startles at the boy appearing in the unlit doorway, and frowns as he sees the look on harry’s face. “prongslet,” he calls, “what’s wrong?”

“i, um,” harry stutters, looking too small for a nearly fifteen year old. “i had another nightmare.”

sirius softens, and scoots towards the edge of the bed before patting the spot between him and a sleeping remus. “c’mere.”

harry hesitated for only a moment before stepping forward and crawling into the middle of them, feeling too old to be laying in his godfathers’ bed anymore. especially one that was very unfamiliar. being in sirius’ family home was weird for all of them, but harry could see how hard it was on his godfather. 

sirius wraps an arm around him. “was it about cedric?”

harry nods. sirius sighs. “i’m so sorry, prongslet. you never should have been in that competition in the first place, we should’ve fought harder to get you out. i can’t imagine what that was like for you.”

“i saw mum and dad,” harry mumbles, causing sirius’ breath to catch in his chest. “when voldemort’s and i’s spells collided, all these people came out of the light. they were there.”

“oh my,” the man breathed out, taken by surprise at the boy’s words. “did they, uh, say anything?”

“they said they were proud of me, and that they loved me,” harry replied, then tilted his head to look at him. “and told me to tell you they were proud of you, too.”

sirius felt tears pooling in his eyes and tried to blink them away. “they did?”

“yeah,” harry smiled slightly at the sight. “hey, uh, pads?”

sirius wiped his eyes with his free hand. “yeah, prongslet?”

harry’s voice sounded small as he continued. “can you tell me a story?”

it had been so long since he had asked for one, but sirius knew exactly which one to tell. “well, you know your mum and dad got together in their seventh year.”

“yeah,” harry grinned, “because mum didn’t like him until then.”

sirius chuckled, “no, he did not. the both of us were annoying kids, even assholes as he started growing up. maybe it was the war that really got to us, or maybe we just started to mature, but in sixth year james’ head really started to deflate. he and lily started talking more, and when they were named headboy and headgirl, that’s when he really won her over.”

he let the words settle before he continued. “they really were meant for each other, i think. lily mellowed james out, wisened him up. james brought out another side in lily as well, and let her know it was okay to let loose sometimes.”

harry smiled as he thought of his parents. then, another thought occurred to him. “can you tell me the story of you and moony?”

this was a new question, but one sirius was more than happy to answer. “well, remus and i weren’t really like james and lily. obviously, we were friends first. i think i first started seeing him as more than that in our third year, and it was honestly a really hard thing for me to come to terms with. but it was part of the reason that i pushed so hard to become animagi with your father. finally, in sixth year, remus told me he liked me, because he always had to one up me, and we got together. i loved to rub it in james’ face that i won over moony before he won over lily.”

that got a chuckle out of harry. he hesitated before asking, “why aren’t you guys married?”

sirius frowned as he thought of the answer, and he spoke more quietly as he responded. “werewolves are treated like shit in the wizarding world, as you well know. moony has always carried the burden on his own shoulders, though i have always tried to lighten the load when he’ll let me. at first, it was because we were too young. then it was because he didn’t want to risk losing custody of you, if i married a werewolf and you had one as a godfather. that’s still a big part of the reason, but i think a lot of it is his own anxiety and insecurity with his problem. believe me, i’ve asked him several times, but i’m also very content with our life how it is, so i’ve never held any resentment when he says no.”

“sound like a load of shit to me,” harry shrugged, which caused sirius to bark out a laugh. “maybe one day you guys will be.”

sirius spared a glance at the sleeping man beside them. “yeah. maybe one day.”

-

sirius apparated with a crack, and appeared right in the heart of the battle. he saw harry fighting with lucius, neville clutching a broken nose, and remus throwing spells at a masked death eater. his eyes landed on bellatrix, and he narrowed them before flinging a spell at his cousin. 

bellateix cackled as she accepted the challenge, yelling curses and hexes and anything she could think of, but sirius dodge them all. he threw some back between protection spells, but couldn’t help but glance to the side as harry landed a great hit. 

“ha! nice one, prongs-“

suddenly a hand is wrapped around his arm and he goes tumbling to the floor. remus lands on top of him and bellatrix’s body thuds to the floor as she is effectively stunned. they both breathe heavily, not noticing harry run out after lucius malfoy. 

“damn, moony,” sirius grins up at him, “there you go saving my life again.”

remus rolls his eyes but can’t suppress the smile of relief. “shut up, you stinky old dog.”

-

“ENOUGH!”

harry is thrown backwards with a gasp, struggling to catch his breath as he looked at the man in front of him. his mind is still reeling from the visions he just witnessed, having actually seen what he had heard from his godfathers so many times. 

snape glares at him with hatred, “enjoy seeing your pathetic excuse of a father, did you?”

“you’re being unfair,” harry snarled back, unable to hold his tongue. “you think i haven’t heard stories? i know how the story ended! i know what my father was like, but i also know he grew up. it’s a shame that never happened to you.”

“if you are smart, you will shut it!” snaped shouted, taking a threatening step forwards. 

but harry continued. “no. i think you’re a pathetic excuse of a man. bullying children to make you feel better about yourself. all because a woman didn’t love you back twenty years ago, and you were so obsessed that you never got over her!”

“get out, get out! i don’t want to see you in this office ever again!” the professor shouted, pointing towards the door. harry didn’t need to be told twice. 

padfoot was gonna love this. 

-

“sirius!”

“padfoot!”

sirius let out a small groan as two bodies collided with his, but he wrapped his arms around harry and remus from where he lay in the hospital wing. in the bed next to him was bill weasley, surrounded by his parents and fiancée. the man had just been attacked by greyback, and sirius himself had been on the receiving end of a hex that left a deep gash going halfway down his leg. poppy told him he was lucky he didn’t lose it. 

“i’m fine, i’m fine,” sirius insisted, giving harry a grin as he let go. remus loosened his grip, but still held his lover’s hands tightly in his own. “just a scratch.”

harry rolled his eyes as remus scoffed, “just a scratch, my arse. when i saw you go down i thought the worst.”

“and i hear bellatrix running away bragging that she had killed you,” harry added, still looking worried. “shouldn’t have believed her. i ran into remus on the way here, so we both immediately assumed-“

“i’m fine,” sirius repeated, assuring harry at least. but remus was still staring at him in disbelief and fear. sirius sighed, “moons, i’m okay, i promise y-“

“marry me,” remus blurted, catching the attention of everyone in the room. 

sirius felt like he couldn’t breathe. “i- what?”

“marry me,” remus repeated, leaning in closer to him. “c’mon, pads, you’ve asked me a million times, don’t change your mind now.”

“i- i didn’t change my mind!” sirius exclaimed, staring at the man in surprise. “but you did, apparently!”

“i’m sorry,” remus frowned. “i’ve always wanted to marry you. i’ve always been wrapped up in my own reasons and excuses and i’ve been depriving myself of what i want for nearly twenty years. and that’s you. i want to marry you. so please say yes.”

“oh my god,” sirius exhaled loudly, “for fuck’s sake, yes, you bloody idiot!”

remus grinned widely and leaned forward to kiss him while the room erupted into cheers. harry watched them with a huge smile on his face, and when they pulled apart, ran forward to embrace them both. “finally,” he said. 

-

the wedding was small, held in the backyard of their cottage and decorated mostly by molly. harry was the ring bearer, and they had no best men or groomsmen. kingsley shacklebolt officiated, and the ceremony itself last about ten minutes. 

but the party afterwards raged all night long. 

-

harry telling them that he was going on a secret mission from dumbledore left his godfathers in a messy state. sirius cursed the dead man for putting this pressure on a child, and remus paced back and forth any time he got too anxious about it. they had to keep each other calm through many stressful months, all while keeping an ear on the radio to make sure harry’s name was not one of the man listed each week. 

when they finally got the patronus to meet at hogwarts, they kissed quickly before apparating away to see their godson. 

“prongslet!” sirius exclaimed, grabbing the boy’s hand and pulling him into his arms. he felt remus’ wrap around them, and they held each other for a couple minutes before parting. “okay, what do we need to do?”

and so harry was off on his own mission while remus and sirius just tried to stay alive. they made their way through the castle together, protecting one another from harmful spells and taking out death eaters. 

“we’re such a power couple,” sirius commented, at which his husband rolled his eyes. “no, seriously, moonbeam, look at us.”

“i know, sirius,” remus conceded, “we are a power couple.”

“ha! finally-“

sirius cut off as he noticed dolohov aim his wand at remus, and dove on top of his husband to bring them both to the ground. at the same time, he flung his arm out and shouted a curse, one that sent the death eater slamming into a wall. sirius glanced down at remus who was staring up at him with wide eyes. 

“my turn to save your life,” sirius winked. 

“damn, pads,” remus said, breathing heavily. “that was hot.”

-

“you’re joking, perce! you’re actually joking... i don’t think i’ve heard you joke since you were-“

“stupefy!”

the death eater aiming a spell at the rubble above the weasley’s head fell to the floor, and fred spun around to look at sirius with wide eyes. “blimey, you just saved my life!”

“i’m on a roll tonight, kid,” sirius winked as he and remus continued making their way towards the great hall. 

-

“avada kedavra!”

“expelliarmus!”

tom riddle’s body fell to the floor with a thud, and the great hall erupted into cheers. remus and sirius pushed through the crowd to embrace their godson tightly, both of them shamelessly crying onto his shoulders. harry smiled weakly as he held them, but was grateful to see them alive. 

“you did it, pronglset,” sirius said when they pulled apart, wiping his face with his jacket sleeve. “merlin, i’m so proud of you.”

“as am i,” added remus softly. “and so are your parents.”

harry looked at up at them with tears in his eyes, having heard those words from his parents themselves an hour ago. he looked between the two men who had raised him, taken him in when he was orphaned at not even a year old, and more tears streamed down his face. 

“i owe it all to you,” he said finally. “and my parents send their love.”

the two adults share a pained expression before smiling at harry. sirius speaks, “go see your friends, prongslet. we can cry over each other later. we’ve got all the time in the world.”

and they really did. 

-

harry felt a sudden absence of space at his side, and nodded at ginny to go on without him. he made his way back to where his son was pretending to tie his shoe, and crouched in front of him. 

“you ready, love?” he asked him, searching his eyes for what he may be feeling. 

his son hesitated. “dad, what if i am put in slytherin?”

“you know, i once had this same dilemma myself,” said harry, “let me tell you what grandpa sirius told me then.each house is made up of good and bad, even my own. the hat will place you where you truly belong, and those people will become your family. we will be proud of you wherever you end up.”

“you promise?” the boy asked in a small voice, seemingly reluctant to really believe him. 

harry paused. “regulus remus potter. you were named after a slytherin, as you know. he changed the course of the first war, and died fighting for what was right.”

“he’s my great uncle, right?” reg asked, accepting harry’s hand to pull him up to his feet. 

“he is,” his father nodded. “i never got to meet him, but i’ve heard stories. i can tell you one later, if you’d like.”

regulus nodded, and allowed harry to guide him back to where his mother and grandfathers waited with his siblings. james sirius potter gave his father a quick hug before taking off onto the train. lily minerva watched him go with a sad look in her eyes, as she would not be going to hogwarts this year.  from where he sat on ginny’s hip, arthur william blinked at them before resting his head on his mother’s shoulder.

“all ready?” ginny asked her second youngest son, then kissing his forehead once he nodded. 

regulus hugged them all goodbye, and then slowly made his way onto the train with rose weasley.  harry gave lily and arthur hugs and kissed before embracing ginny, then turned and followed his kids on the train. ron called after him, “give ‘em hell, professor!”

harry received many gawking looks from parents at the gesture he threw over his shoulder. 

sirius nudge remus with his elbow and snickered as he waved at regulus, who was sticking his head out the train window. “that kid is a slytherin.”

remus rolled his eyes at his husband as ginny waved goodbye to her children and husband departing with the train. the two older men stood with an arm wrapped around each other, watching wistfully. 

remus turned his head to look at sirius, “hey.”

“yeah?”

“until the end, right pads?”

“until the very end, moons.”

**Author's Note:**

> aaaand that’s it!! 
> 
> so many things in the hp series make me angry and this was my attempt to correct just a few. 
> 
> also screw jkr. 
> 
> also let’s get gay married at dumbledore’s funeral teehee. 
> 
> based this off of an imagine that i wrote on tumblr! go check it out @ nymphadoradear
> 
> edit: the ending felt too canon to me so yeah i added another kid bc it did irritate me that the kids were named after people prominent only in harry’s life. like yeah remus and minerva were her profs too but. so yeah they name one after arthur and bill i said what i said. 
> 
> AND i hate the auror ending for harry. that kid spent seven years fighting dark wizards and then he wanted to become a wizard cop? fuck 12 and he was a professor. 
> 
> thanks for reading :))


End file.
